Supreme Court Stands on the Side of Reproductive Freedom

After months of advocacy on the part of NARAL and dozens of other reproductive rights, freedom and justice organizations, the Supreme Court ruled in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt that some of the clinic closure laws sweeping the nation and making abortion care hard to access are unconstitutional. The Justices saw what we’ve long known to be true: These laws DO create huge obstacles to women seeking reproductive-health care, and their decision gives us a strong case to strike down similar laws in other states.

This decision will help to stem the public health crisis in Texas by allowing the remaining clinics in Texas to keep their doors open, and it paved the way for new clinics to open and meet the needs of the millions of women in under-served areas of Texas.

This wasn’t the end of our fight. Anti-choice legislators, even now, are still trying and succeeding to push through policies that hurt women and our families—like abortion bans, mandatory counseling or delays and efforts to defund Planned Parenthood.

The fight to protect abortion access does not end with this Supreme Court decision—but it’s the first step in dismantling hundreds of medically unnecessary laws aimed at making it harder for women to exercise their rights.